MULTI-ACCESS TERMINAL WITH CAPABILITY FOR SIMULTANEOUS CONNECTIVITY TO MULTIPLE COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

• US 20090168701A1
• Filed: 03/06/2009
• Published: 07/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nicolas Girard, Patrick E. White
• Original Assignee: Nicolas Girard, Patrick E. White
• Inventors: White, Patrick E., Girard, Nicolas
• Granted Patent: US 8,107,457 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/10 Flow control between communication endpoints
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

An apparatus is disclosed for permitting a mobile terminal having multiple, heterogeneous network connections (e.g., multiple wired or wireless transceivers of various types) to set up and maintain virtual connections over multiple networks to either the same or to multiple destinations. The mobile terminal can “load-share” traffic, i.e., it can distribute segments of traffic over a full set of heterogeneous networks, significantly improving the reliability and availability of communications. In a first embodiment, a mobile terminal is configured with multiple radio frequency (RF) transceivers. Operating system software is provided for dynamically establishing and maintaining traffic flow for user applications over multiple communications paths, and for automatically adapting to variations in the networking environment, application traffic flow requirements, end user preferences, or mobility. In a second embodiment, a software-defined radio is used to implement the physical layer protocols for each desired network, eliminating the need for multiple transceivers.

Claims

1-80. -80. (canceled)

81. A multi-access system adapted for allowing communication between a first system and a second system, said multi-access system comprising:

first means for receiving and transmitting data using a plurality of communications protocols; and

second means for establishing a plurality of communications paths with the use of said first means, at least some of said communications paths forming an aggregated communications pipe over which the first system can communicate with the second system, said second means being configured to allow communication between the first system and the second system through the simultaneous use of at least two of said at least some of said communications paths.